Output of the steelmaking material reached 366.5 million tonnes last year, boosted by record high productionat Vale's northern system, which composed of its Carajás, Serra Leste and the massive S11D mine.

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) is demanding that Beatrix gold mine remains closed pending a probe and has asked the South African government to investigate why the operation apparently didn’t have a backup generator.

They also claim miner offloaded the asset to avoid paying for environmental damage caused by an accident at its floating dock, which killed six people and dragged vehicles, equipment and large amounts of iron ore into the Amazon River.